DAZ Studio Pro BETA (4.5.1.49) Now Available!

DAZ 3D is pleased to announce the next public version of the DAZ Studio Pro BETA - version 4.5.1.49!

What is a BETA?

Despite our best efforts, DAZ 3D cannot possibly test the software under all possible conditions. So, we are providing this version of the application to the general public in order to uncover problems that were not discovered during internal testing. We expect that there will still be problems and we hope that when users encounter any problems, they will report them to the Bug Tracker so that they can be validated, prioritized and fixed.

As with any software classified as being in the BETA phase of development, you should expect to encounter bugs. Any bugs you do encounter while using BETA software can vary in terms of severity, from minor features that do not work correctly to problems that cause your computer to crash. Before choosing to use BETA software for production purposes, you should decide whether the benefit of new features and bug fixes provided by the BETA version outweighs the risk of instability you may encounter.

What is new in this version? Do I need to update my copy?

The 4.5.1.49 version resolves several issues and implements many improvements since the 4.5.1.6 General Release. More detail on specific fixes/changes/improvements can be found in the Change Log, which can be viewed online within the Documentation Center portion of our site. All new downloads of the DAZ Studio Pro BETA product (SKU: 12000) will be of this version.

BETA 2 (4.5.1.49) highlights are:1) Added support for Blended Weights (blend between TriAx Weight and General Weight in a single figure)2) Fixed light color when rendering shadows (and colored shadows when using DS Defaults)3) Fixed script access to enums on abstract base classes (fixes things like scripts for custom shaders and some utilities/tools written for previous versions)4) Fixed loading of some types of content (rigidity w/ rotations, resolution of nodes where names do not match asset id)

BETA 1 (4.5.1.41) highlights are:1) Fixed crash when loading dynamic clothing that has a material applied to it2) Fixed Transfer Utility to not remove unused bones if not projecting weights3) Extended Filter Weights to allow filtering of multiple maps at the same time4) Updated 3Delight libraries to version 10.0.70 - for details see 3Delight change log here

Has the Genesis Starter Essentials content been updated too?

Yes, the Genesis Starter Essentials content that is provided with the product has been updated to version 1.11.

Comments

11-24 I did a reset for DSPro beta and got DS4.5.1.41 and it's still(!!) at my downloadable products page, also the GenesisStarterEssentials 1.9
Can I download them again to get the latest? Or do I have to reset again so it will add more to my downloadable products? (which is already at 205 products)

Well, one big difference...this version runs on WINE. Not sure if it is just this build or if it is the combination of this build and Wine 1.5.19...but I've been throwing everything I can at it for the past couple of hours and so far no problems.

Nice and smooth...and there is a bump up in rendering speed with raytraced shadows. Several of the 3Delight fixes/improvements were speed improvements, overall, and some with the raytracing engine, specifically, so they seem to have transferred well.

...and there is a bump up in rendering speed with raytraced shadows. Several of the 3Delight fixes/improvements were speed improvements, overall, and some with the raytracing engine, specifically, so they seem to have transferred well.

One of the scenes I use to test the versions...it has transmapped lace, hair and UberEnvironment AO w/soft shadow...went from over an hour it half an hour. Another, that usually takes about half an hour to render dropped to 20 minutes. And a fairly simple scene with simple lighting...not much change.

Now one fix I want to complain about...

- Fixed bone positions in the hand of the BasicChild morph

Now I've got to go adjust a bunch of poses in saved scenes. The fix while great does shift the hands a bit.

I got 4.5.1.6, installed it and the Genesis Starter Essentials, that all went without a hitch. Even my ATI/AMD video card is fully compatible. No CMS issues at all either. I then upgraded to this beta and everything went just fine. During this, the CMS installer told me that, as I hadn’t made any changes, I didn’t need to reinstall it and it told me to quit. I did and the rest of the install went without any issues at all. The updated GSE went in fine too.

I guess I got lucky, now to get the Gen 5 figures and a bit more content installed.....

After two weeks, I'm happy to say that for the most part this build is pretty stable. It does, most of the time render faster, but there have been a couple of odd crashes with very long renders that I haven't been able to nail down as to what caused them...because after a restart, they render just fine. It's just annoying to get to 99% and then crash...in a multi-hour render.

All I know so far is the installations worked, I haven't had much time to check anything else. I'll have to see what I can do tomorrow. The only plug in outside of what DS came with that I installed was the beta of Garibaldi, that's one thing that looks incredible.

There's no way in the world I can afford ZBrush so GoZ has no use for me. I'm not sure my version of Photoshop is compatible so I doubt I'll even install the 3D bridge for it.

All I know so far is the installations worked, I haven't had much time to check anything else. I'll have to see what I can do tomorrow. The only plug in outside of what DS came with that I installed was the beta of Garibaldi, that's one thing that looks incredible.

There's no way in the world I can afford ZBrush so GoZ has no use for me. I'm not sure my version of Photoshop is compatible so I doubt I'll even install the 3D bridge for it.

Hopefully I'll be happy with what I have for the time being

CHEERS!

Same here...Zbrush is a bit out of my reach....and my copy of Photoshop is so old, I'd have to brush the dust off the floppies to install it. Been using Blender and GIMP since nigh on to forever. I'd love to see bridges for either/both of those...

Same here...Zbrush is a bit out of my reach....and my copy of Photoshop is so old, I'd have to brush the dust off the floppies to install it. Been using Blender and GIMP since nigh on to forever. I'd love to see bridges for either/both of those...

Yes, I'm still using PS 7, bought in a box from one of those liquidation and surplus outlets, must be 10 years ago or more. The Gimp is great, but after all those years with PS I can't get used to it.

I've slightly toyed with the idea of buying ZBrush, but I don't really have any talent for sculpting, which I think is the main focus of it and I think it would be a waste for me. I'm happy with Blender for traditional modelling, UV mapping, etc. (and of course it does a lot more). I'd love someone to do a "GoBlender" bridge. I have import/export down pat now, but a bridge would be amazing.

I finds it saves and loads a lot slower it also has "jammed' & crashed a few times. I use the Luxrender so not sure about render times not a worthwhile upgrade from 1.6 but I now have scenes built with it that would not go backwards

Same here...Zbrush is a bit out of my reach....and my copy of Photoshop is so old, I'd have to brush the dust off the floppies to install it. Been using Blender and GIMP since nigh on to forever. I'd love to see bridges for either/both of those...

Yes, I'm still using PS 7, bought in a box from one of those liquidation and surplus outlets, must be 10 years ago or more. The Gimp is great, but after all those years with PS I can't get used to it.

I've slightly toyed with the idea of buying ZBrush, but I don't really have any talent for sculpting, which I think is the main focus of it and I think it would be a waste for me. I'm happy with Blender for traditional modelling, UV mapping, etc. (and of course it does a lot more). I'd love someone to do a "GoBlender" bridge. I have import/export down pat now, but a bridge would be amazing.

Yeah, 7 here too. It has all the functionality I've ever needed. Blender sounds interesting and could be something to look into.

The last install of DS I had was something like 2.5, I never really mastered it, but, now it's back in my arsenal again I'll aim to master it. If 3delight is good enough for the movie industry then it'll do me! At least with our brand of 3D you don't need to sit in the dark with Roy Orbison's castoff's on your head!

Well, finally got the chance to check the GoZ bridge. It's completely borked. I reinstalled it, I forced a reinstall via ZBrush and tried relocating it via ZBrush and all things end up with ZBrush seeing it just fine but DAZ Studio can't connect to the program whether I have ZB already invoked or letting the bridge invoke it. GRRRRRR

Yea, Perhaps the ZBrush interface changed with it's new fade out and see desktop option. Can't imagine that breaking the bridge from where DAZ Studio is but it's one of the very noticeable things about the ZB update!

Yea, but if the slider is all the way to the right you are looking right at your other open window or maybe a tutorial you might have under the programs UI... I can see it being useful.

No, the system is fine with both DS and ZB. I checked all that out as well. It's gotta be a bug or something DAZ hasn't fixed in the bridge yet. If others are using the bridge with no issue then I'm hoping someone will post saying so then it might be on my end. After trying everything I can think of it seems hopeless for now.

Can't help with the Bridge as I don't have Zbrush. But when you installed the beta, did you get the bridge plugin in the beta package? The one in the beta package should have a 1.49 in its version number...

Just double checking...I don't have Zbrush or Photoshop, so I don't really pay that much attention to the plugins, so I only keep the latest versions archived. I did notice that they didn't overwrite the previous ones in the archive...so I manually deleted the older ones.